Underneath it All
by pinefresh
Summary: *sigh* I love this story. H/G, yet again! Chapter five is up -- Story is finished =) Enjoy, and please review it.
1. A hug

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Underneath it All

(There's times when I want someone more

Someone more like me

Behind you're glasses you're

You're something else

You're really lovely

Underneath it all

You want to love me

Underneath it all

I'm really lucky

Underneath it all

You're really lovely

You know some real bad tricks

And you need some discipline

But lately you've been trying real hard

And giving me your best

I've seen right through and underneath

And you make me better

Somehow I'm full of forgiveness

I guess it's meant to be)p

b(a/n -- Not a song fiction, but named after a song; Ginny sets out to find out what's underneath Harry -- not the floor, silly -- but under the front he puts up to everyone. Before she gives up on him, she has to find out what's underneath him, because she knows there's something more. Basically about how Ginny really gets to know Harry, the ups and downs of him, what he does every day, and she eventually knows everything about him. He really loves her -- underneath it all. Maybe even his quidditch robes. You never know. )/b

Ginny huddled through the corridor, doing what she did best - getting out of people's way. She wasn't unpopular, nor was she really popular, but she tried to stay out of other people's business. She always felt like she would be intruding if she went up and just started talking to another group of girls. Therefore, she was perfectly happy being herself. She sighed and rounded the corner into the potions dungeon and flopped down her bag, sat down, and put her chin down on her hands. Ginny hated potions. Didn't everyone?

When lunch came and her friend Alice drew her out of her stupor, she made her way to lunch with her stomach growling. Just as she went to turn into the great hall, she was knocked over by none other than --

"Harry!" She cried. He completely knocked her over and kept walking.

"Uh, sorry Ginny," He turned around briefly, not sounding sorry at all, and hurried out of the door. He was in his quidditch practice robes. i_Great,/i_ she thought, i_there goes my goal for the day/i_. Ever since Ginny had read a muggle magazine the last summer about setting goals every day, she had tried to convince herself she would do just that. Her goal for that day - and many, many others - was to talk to Harry. However, Harry seemed to have a fort built around his face, or something of that sort. Or so it seemed to Ginny. Whenever she got the chance to talk to him he had to go to practice, or he was late for class, or one of the other ten excuses he always gave her. He seemed so out of it ever since last year. _It can't still be Cedric_, Ginny thought. When she eventually got to the great hall she sat down next to Hermione and helped herself to an apple. 

"Hermione, can I ask you something?" Ginny said, chopping her apple into pieces.

"Mhmm?"

"Has Harry been himself lately?"

Hermione looked up from her book. "Not really, no. Why do you ask that?" 

"He just seems so -- out of it, I guess. Do you think it's because of Cedric, still?" 

"You never know. He's got a lot going on behind those glasses." Hermione said. i_Yeah, like bright green eyes_, /iGinny thought to herself before Hermione said, "Listen, we'll talk later on. I've got Herbology next and I have to go to the library before it" She smiled. "Don't worry about Harry, okay? He's fine." And she left.

Later that afternoon in the common room, Ginny was eyeing Harry. He was doing his homework in the corner with his hand in his hair, hardly even paying attention to what he was writing. His eyes looked as if they were filled with thought, and Ginny realized just in time how obvious it was that she was staring at him. She jerked her eyes away just before Harry looked up, closed his book, and went over to the fire and sat down in the chair across from Ginny's and closed his eyes.

"Hey, Harry." Ginny said. i_Hey, it's worth a try./i_

Harry opened his eyes, looked at her, closed them again, and said, "Hey."

"What's that from?" Ginny asked curiously, pointing to the huge bruise on his arm. Harry briefly opened his eyes before he muttered something that sounded like "bludger", and closed them again without another word. Ginny gave him a nasty look in front of his closed eyelids, and got up and walked towards the staircase. She didn't turn around to catch Harry turn around and watch her stomp up the stairs.

p

* * *

The next day was the first quidditch match of the season. Ginny woke up to the smell of autumn blowing through her window. She stood up with the blanket wrapped around her slammed her window shut, and plopped back on her bed, delighted with the weather. She loved the fall, and the trees. She sighed and rolled out of bed, put a jumper over her shirt, and headed outside to the quidditch pitch, hoping she hadn't missed anything. 

Down at the pitch, the quidditch players were just about to mount their broomsticks. Ginny took a seat next to Hermione and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck.

"Morning, sunshine! It's about time you got up." Hermione said. Ginny stuck her tongue out at her, and just then, Madam Hooch blew the whistle.

Ginny watched Harry the whole entire game. Up there was the only time she thought he looked like the Harry he was in the first four years at Hogwarts. The wind whipped his hair, and green eyes flashed this way and that, searching for any sign of a flicker of gold that was the Snitch. Ginny could have just watched him up there, minus all the other players. Just Harry searching for the snitch. That was where he looked content, and that was how Ginny tried to think of him. Amidst all her thoughts, she had hardly kept track of the game, and before she knew it, she saw Harry make an dive that made her stomach clench with fear, but fear was soon replaced with joy, for he had caught the Snitch. Ginny and the rest of the stands stood up, cheering loudly. Ginny's heart was in her throat as she saw Harry come down from the air, a huge grin planted across his face. _Let's hope it stays_, she thought to herself as she made her way down to congratulate the team. 

Ginny made her way over to Ron, Gryffindor's new Keeper, and hugged him and gave him a congratulations. Right next to him was Harry, so she -out of joy- gave him a hug as well. When she pulled back she was surprised to see that Harry was grinning broadly, looking at her a little funny, before Fred and George came over and put him on their shoulders. Ginny turned around to see Hermione giving her an I-saw-that-nice-work sort of look, and punched her playfully on the shoulder.

"Way to go Ginny!" Hermione laughed.

Back in the common room the music was loud, the people were happy ,and the food was plenty. Everyone had a smile on their face, and Ginny thought this was a perfect time to question Harry about some things, especially since he had had a couple of the "special" butterbeer Fred and George had smuggled from the kitchens.

"Great job today Harry!" Ginny said, sitting down beside him. 

Harry gave her a lopsided grin and said, "Great job to you! Thanks!" Ginny wasn't sure what that meant, but she disregarded it and went on, speaking sort of loudly over all the noise.

"So have you been okay lately?"

He gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean?" 

"You've just seemed sort of quiet, that's all. You haven't seemed to be yourself." she said, looking at her feet and cursing herself for wanting to ask him about this, anyway.

"Oh...well, no, I've been fine. You know, quidditch and all has been tough, and school work and all." he said, but Ginny had the feeling he told everyone this.

"You're sure that's it?" Ginny asked, with a resolving tone to her voice.

"Yes! Gee, Ginny, you're almost as bad as your brother with all of his questioning." he said, and Ginny gave him a dirty look, but smiled all the same.

"So you'll start acting like a normal person now? You're saying it was just nerves?" Ginny asked, one more time.

"Yes. And now I am tired and have had a bit too much butterbeer, so if you excuse me, this interview is over." Harry laughed at nothing, really, and got up and walked to the girls' staircase. Ginny was the only one who seemed to notice this, and broke into a fit of giggles as she saw Harry walk back down, blushing, and make his was up the correct staircase.


	2. An Investigation

CHAPTER TWO___

Over the next week, Ginny was playing investigator. She had secretly followed Harry around, and come to the conclusion that his schedule was as follows, taken from Ginny's notebook - 

He wakes up at 8:00 every single day, on the button. I know because I get up at 7:40, not always on the button, but I'm usually down in the common room when he walks down at 8:00. 

We have classes until 3:30, but his classes don't really matter.

After his last period, at 4:00 he goes to Quidditch practice until 6:00, when he comes into the common room, sits down for about five minutes, maybe playing a game of chess, before going upstairs to take a shower. 

At 7:00 is dinner, which he always comes five minutes late, eats with Hermione and Ron, and then goes off to the library.

After the library, I always lose him. He walks away with something clutched under his arm every single night at 8:20, and then doesn't come back to the common room until 11:50. 

Every single day.

Ginny sighed as she closed her notebook, concluding that she would find out where he went every night after the library, and what he did. And what WAS that thing clutched under his arm? She had to know, and tonight, she would.

After dinner Ginny went to the library and sat a few tables away from Harry, who was reading a thick book about every single professional Quidditch game played so far. It automatically updated itself, and he liked to read the differences of the quidditch games now and in the 1500's. Ginny stared at the book she was pretending to read, thinking of all the possibilities of Harry's whereabouts every night. She checked her watch. It was 8:15. _Five more minutes_, she thought to herself, and proceeded to act like she was reading once more.

At 8:20, she heard Harry slide his chair backwards and get up with his elbow bent and to his side, holding something down. Ginny quietly and quickly stood up and pulled on her cloak, and tiptoed down the hall after him.

He stopped at the muggle studies classroom, she observed from the corridor, peeking her head in. She watched intently as he walked in, looked around the dark room, and pulled something out of his coat. Is that -- a cloak? It was some sort of cloak, a silvery cloak that looked as if it were made of glass. He pulled it out, and put it on, or did he? As soon as he put it on, Ginny didn't see him anymore. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, and he still wasn't there. Looking closer, Ginny saw his hand, with no body, just has hand, stick out and close the door behind him. Ginny heard his feet and listened hard, following him. 

He was going up many, many staircases, until Ginny recognized the one where she heard him stop moving and watched him pull of his cloak - the astronomy tower. From under his cloak he also had his Firebolt, which he mounted and soared up to the top of the tower, Ginny watching him until he was out of sight. The first thought that came to her mind was "He would be in so much trouble if someone saw him out flying like this." but then she thought that it was good for him, she knew what it would be like to just get out and soar and think and breathe in cool air. Which reminded her how freezing she was, and she began tiptoeing her way out into the corridor, when she heard Peeves cackling. At her first instinct, she ran back into the center of the tower, threw Harry's cloak over her, and squatted down while Peeves flew in and recited a whole medley of rhymes that made Ginny's head ache, so she busied herself with other things, such as the cloak. She looked around inside ; it was not really patterned, but it had tiny swirls along the border. She inhaled the scent of it. Is this what Harry smells like? She thought to herself, and inhaled once more, closing her eyes. It smelled like - cinnamon, and yet, it smelled sweet, maybe like vanilla - she sniffed it - she tried to put her finger on it, but it wouldn't come to her. When Peeves' voice died down, she peered out the top of the cloak, and a gust of wind nearly knocked her over. There it was, that smell again, the same one she smelled the morning of the quidditch match. Then it came to her. Harry smelled like a cool, brisk day in autumn. Like pumpkins and grass and leaves. She sighed and looked up at the stars.

Ginny held her breath and thought of something - How long had she been there? She couldn't see her watch it, was too dark, and, she soon realized, too late, because she saw Harry's dark, thin silhouette rounding the top of the tower. She couldn't move from under the cloak - he would see her. But if she didn't, then he would be searching around for his cloak. She took it off and only too late - she heard Harry's feet hit the floor just when she had reached the exit. 

"Hey!" Harry called out to her. He didn't know it was Ginny yet.

Ginny turned around slowly. "Um...hi?" She said and started to turn around again.

"Ginny?" Harry said slowly, and walked toward her. 

"Erm, yes, but I have to go, so please - "

"What are you doing here?" Harry looked at her in suspicion.

"Um..." I have to lie, she thought, I have to lie... "I come here - er, sometimes, at um, night--" she stammered "to, uh, look at the stars! Yes, the stars!" Harry gave her a funny look.

"I've never seen you here before," he said. "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, not long enough to see you leave!" She said, totally giving herself away. Harry turned around and picked up his invisibility cloak. "This is warm. Were you using it?" 

"Er--well, I can explain, you see, Peeves came down, and he was singing in here, and I didn't know what it was so I just put it on to hide myself, and it made me invisible." Ginny said lamely. "Sorry."

"Well, if you're going back down to the common room, you might want to put this on." Harry said.

"Oh! Well, no, it's yours, you should wear it. I'll be fine." she said. "I'll just, um, be going now, then."

"Ginny."

"Yes?" 

"I mean for the both of us." Harry said. "We don't need to lose any points for Gryffindor. It's big enough for three people."

Ginny felt her face get hot and was trying to stop herself from grinning. She suddenly didn't feel cold at all anymore. In fact, she felt like she was sweating. She walked awkwardly over to Harry, who was lifting up the cloak to put them under it, and stepped under, sweating. They made their way out and Ginny was thankful that they didn't have to squeeze. It would have been much too scary to have to walk with their arms touching. Ginny realized how stupid she sounded, talking to herself, and just let Harry lead their way down the corridors. Through all her thoughts Ginny had forgotten why she had come here in the first place, and decided upon asking Harry now, while she had him.

"So, do you come here every night, then?" she whispered to him.

"Most of the time. I love to fly at night. You won't -tell anyone, will you?" Harry looked at her.

"No! No of course not. It's your thing, I just happened to see you there. It wasn't like, I was, you know, SPYING or something like that." she said, half trying to convince her self that she wasn't spying. Even though you WERE, she thought. 

"Alright then. I mainly go up there to think. It sort of helped after the whole - well, you know." Harry said. Ginny said something like "yeah", feeling stupid. What was she supposed to say to someone who had been through that much, and was still humble about it?

"So you still think about that a lot?" she asked.

"I guess you could say that. There isn't much left to think about. I don't want to be known as someone who tried to save Cedric and failed. I hate being famous." Harry sounded as if he would go on, but stopped himself. 

"You don't talk to people much, do you?"

"Nope. I like it better that way." Harry said.

"Maybe you should try talking to people. We're all here for you, you know it. Everyone in Gryffindor is, but you won't open up to anyone." Ginny said. "You would feel better if you did."

To her surprise, Harry smiled at her, looked at the portrait, said "Stardust" and let her in the common room before him. 

Ginny made her way towards the stairs. "Good night, Harry." she said.

"Night, Ginny. Thanks." Ginny stopped climbing the stairs.

"For what?"

"Talking to me." he said. And walked to his dorm. Ginny shook her head.

"What a weird kid." she said to herself, and went up to her dorm and laid her head down on her crisp, white pillow that smelled like the fall.


	3. An Admittance

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(A/N - Thanks so much to the people who commented on the story ; I need more! Okay, this chapter was fun to write, and hopefully will be fun to read. I love the last bit =) A bit of fighting, as well. Ginny's pretty quick. And Harry is a prat. That's about it. Enjoy everyone. Please review and leave me some criticisms, I need them! hehe.)

CHAPTER THREE____

The course of the next few weeks went by fast, with Quidditch matches, Halloween, and tons of school work. Ginny made it a point to talk to Harry everyday to keep herself content, and it was working, because he was definitely talking back. He was acting much more animated with her then she had seen him since the last school year, and everyone else was noticing this positive change in Harry's attitude.

November had passed in, it seemed to Ginny, an hour. She was flooded with schoolwork, and Potions was pretty much killing her, and she had hardly talked to Hermione, let alone anyone else for an entire month. 

December first was a Saturday, and Ginny woke up to see thick snowflakes falling outside of her window, and smiled into her pillow. She put on all her warmest clothes, grabbed her hat and gloves, and went down to the common room, where she knew people were getting ready to go and have a snowball fight. She wasn't mistaken.

"Hey, Ginny! Ready for that snowball fight you've promised us since last Christmas?" Fred practically pounced on her the minute she walked down the staircase.

"You know it." Ginny said, pulling on her gloves.

It was a merry fight indeed. Ginny, Hermione, and George were all on one team; Ron, Fred and Lee on the other. Ron, of course, didn't play fair at all, and when he got frustrated, he just gave up and ran over to Fred, rubbing snow all over his face. Ginny laughed with delight and they were all generally in good moods. 

When the snowball fight was over, Ginny collapsed on the ground beside Hermione and lay there for a while, looking up at the bright, white sky above them. The boys were running around, turning snowballs into different colors and such, and Hermione got up after ten minutes or so. 

"I'm gonna go inside and warm up. Do you want to come?" She asked, looking down at Ginny, who was still lying.

"Only if you help me up." She said, tiredly. And with that, Hermione held out a hand, and they walked back up to the castle, dodging snowballs thrown from the boys.

****

When Ginny tried to sleep that night, there was something nudging at her brain. She kept thinking about Harry. She kept thinking about how he had come so close to her face when he was using her as a shield for a snowball. She remembered how - real - his breath had sounded so close to her ear, and remembered how the mist looked coming from his smiling lips, and how intent his eyes were looking over her head, eyeing Ron. _How am I supposed to sleep now? _She thought, and upon reflection, she decided to go down to the common room - she felt like that was where she should be. 

Ginny plopped herself down on a couch by the fire. There was a blanket balled up in the corner of it, and she reached over to grab it, and under it she found something completely unexpected - 

"Harry!" 

He was curled up with his head on the corner of the couch, huddled over. He looked up, his glasses askew.

"Yes?" He asked, acting as if it were completely normal for him to be sleeping in the common room.

"Well - what are you doing down here?" Ginny asked, exasperated.

"I had a nightmare...and I came down here to read, and I guess I fell back to sleep. Why'd you take my blanket? I'm cold now." And he made a grab for the blanket she was clutching.

"Hey! I'm cold too, use that one." And she pointed to a blanket on the couch across from them, and Harry got up and laid down on that one instead, covering himself with the thick scarlet quilt. Ginny took the tip from Harry, and lay down as well.

"So - why are you up?" Harry asked her.

"I couldn't sleep...things just kept popping into my head, and now I'm wide-awake." Said Ginny, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, me too."

They sat in silence for a little bit, staring at the crackling flames.

"Erm - Ginny?" Harry said after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you always try to help me?" he sounded almost accusing of her.

Ginny was confused. 

"What do you mean?" She looked at him questioningly.

"I just mean, no one else noticed that I was being quiet, or whatever you thought. I just wondered why you, of all people, would care about that type of thing."

Ginny was annoyed. Of all people? What?

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ginny said sharply. "I act like that towards everyone. I was just trying to help you out, you know. Sorry if you're not used to that. I thought you would be, Harry Potter." 

"Well it's just sort of suspicious if someone who was afraid of me for the first four years at Hogwarts just suddenly decides she wants to help me out with my problems. The problems that EVERYONE asks me about and I give them the same answer, so it was useless anyway." Harry spat.

But then immediately looked as if he didn't at all mean what he said, and just looked down at the ground. Ginny, however, was looking at him with piercing brown eyes.

"You have nerve, Harry. Lots of it." She said, standing up. "Maybe that's the only reason they put you in Gryffindor rather than Slytherin. Because you have nerve to say things that are totally wrong and untrue, and you know it." She threw down the blanket and stormed up the stairs. Harry laid his head back and closed his eyes, feeling totally guilty.

Meanwhile, up in her room, Ginny was fuming. _How DARE he? How dare he accuse me of doing ANYTHING but trying to HELP him? _Ginny was confused and angry and hurt all at the same time. It took a long while before she got to sleep.

The next day, it was still snowing. Ginny, however, did not go outside with the rest of her friends. She stayed inside in the library, keeping as far away from Harry as possible. She only left at mealtimes.

"Ginny, would you please tell me what's wrong?" Hermione asked her, for the thousandth time.

"No. Ask Harry."

But Harry wouldn't say anything either. He had been quiet all day as well. Ginny didn't care. She stormed out of the library and went outside, walking alone in the snow, just thinking to herself. 

While walking up a hill, she thought she saw a black speck someplace up where she was walking. It was hard to tell through the snow, so she walked a little faster up the hill, covering her mouth with her scarf. When she got close enough to see, the person standing no more then ten feet away from her was the last person she wanted to see. Harry.

"Ginny." He said to her. She had tried walking past him, but it was as if her name was dragging her back. She stopped and turned around.

"The only thing you have to say to me right now should be sorry, and I know you won't, so if you excuse me, I'm going to go inside." She said, and turned around. Harry jogged next to her and stood in front of her.

"No," he said.

"What do you want, Harry, really?" She asked him, staring up into his deep eyes. "You put it pretty bluntly that you didn't want me worrying about you, so I'll put it bluntly to you as well." She paused. "I won't worry anymore, if you just let me know. I don't want to waste my time. And you better catch me right here because I'm pretty mad right now, if you haven't guessed."

Harry didn't say anything.

"WHY aren't you saying anything?!" Ginny was furious.

He walked close up to her, putting his cheek next to hers, and put his mouth next to her ear.

"I hope you won't stay mad, because **_bluntly_**," he whispered huskily. "I'm starting to like you as more than a friend. I hope that counts as an apology."

And he walked away briskly; leaving Ginny rooted to the spot, staring at the snow falling down in front of her face.


	4. A Christmas

CHAPTER FOUR______

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(I wrote this chapter while listening to Coldplay, so if there are any corny lines, they're probably from one of their songs. Or just simply because I had an inspiration and I wanted this chapter to be sort of...poetic and mellow. Like Coldplay's music. I just realized, music definitely is my muse...

Okay, so I didn't think this chapter was going to be this long, but that's okay...there was a lot of stuff I wanted to put in here so yeah =oP

By the way, thanks to everyone who reviews this. :-) Mwah!!**)**

Okay. So he likes me. Now what?

Ginny was trying to step of the three foot whole she had created while standing in the same place for an hour. She had no idea what to do now. It was everything she had wanted to hear, and yet, she didn't know what it **meant**. 

__

More than a friend. So it means he likes me in a different way, right? But this doesn't mean we're dating. Then what does it mean?

She was still confused when she sat down in the cozy Great Hall, but she **had** decided one thing.

__

It sure as hell counted as an apology.

After dinner she went upstairs to find Harry looking miserable next to the fire, and she walked right back out the portrait hole and to the library. She didn't know what to say to him yet, but when she got to the library she had decided on a couple of things that she would say if he were still in the common room when she got back there. And he was. It was late, there was no one there except for him, looking calmer and less flustered than he did before. 

"Harry."

"Ginny."

"You're brave." _That didn't sound how I intended it to._

"What?" 

"I mean to say that you're not just in Gryffindor for no reason and I didn't mean it when I said that. I'm sorry. And I think you know that I've liked you as more than a friend as long as I've known you."

Harry stared. For a long, long time.

"I think you **should** know that I'm stupid for not realizing, until recently, how much better you make my day."

And then Ginny stared. But not for a long time, because Harry went on.

"I had been miserable before you came and started talking to me. Just being around you makes me forget about all the bad things have happened regarding - well. You know."

"I do know. And it's so late, and I'm **so** tired." Ginny rubbed her eyes, and then looked at Harry. She didn't know what to say.

He took her hand in both of his and looked down at it. "I hope you know that I meant that." He said plainly.

Ginny only nodded. She couldn't really talk, after all. Harry let go of her hand and she stood up, smoothed her shirt, and went upstairs to lay in her bed, where she fell asleep before she even had time to think about any of this.

* * *

Ginny walked down in the common room the next morning to find Ron and Hermione mid-snog on a couch in the common room. Sprinting back upstairs, she realized she never noticed they were a couple. _They ARE a couple now, I'm assuming. _She grinned to herself. _Lovely Christmas gift for Ron, _she thought. _And Hermione for that matter._

And then she remembered. Christmas gifts. She had gotten them for Ron and Hermione and a couple of girls in her year, but nothing for Harry. Christmas was in three days. She couldn't possibly find anything for him by then. Then again, she didn't really figure he would be getting anything for her. So it evened out, or at least she wanted to believe that it did. 

She was glad she had decided to stay for Christmas. She had never stayed before, and she was glad she had - Christmas at Hogwarts was beautiful, and now she would be able to give Hermione her gift on Christmas. Hermione was staying too, she had given some excuse, but Ginny assumed it was for Ron. And Harry, of course, was staying too. She was glad. 

Ginny's stomach growled and decided she had waited long enough for those two to be, um, done, so she went downstairs and was thankful when there was no one else down there. Not that there would be - it was nice and abandoned here since everyone had left. 

After eating, Ginny had a horrible headache. She had supposed it had been there this morning too, but was too tired to notice. She curled up with a blanket and a book by the fire, but never seemed to get warm. 

__

Watch me get sick or something. That's so my luck.

And she did get sick. Not really sick, but she had a cold and a fever two hours later, and Hermione forced her to go to the Hospital wing. But when they got there, no one was there - she guessed Madam Pomfrey had even gone home for Christmas. So instead, she had to see Professor Dumbledore.

"Ah, yes. I happen to get the sniffles right around this time of year as well. I find it's the dust bunnies that are being kicked up -" He was saying, before Ginny cut him off.

"Professor. If you don't mind, I would really like to be feeling better by Christmas at least, so could you please tell me what I should do?"

"I'm afraid I'm no doctor, Miss Weasley. But I find that lying down with a cool rag on your forehead generally makes the fever fade. Just get some rest." he said. _Well, Ron could have told me that..._

"Thanks Professor. Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas! And to you too, Hermione." he smiled at them, and they walked back to Gryffindor Tower.

By dinnertime, Ginny didn't feel like doing anything but lay down, so she just fell asleep instead. When she woke up, she checked the huge clock in the common room and saw that it was midnight. 

"Great," she said out loud. "Now I'm wide awake and alone."

"Ginny! You're up." said a voice from a chair across the room.

"Who's there?" 

"It's me, Harry." he said. "Move your feet." And he sat down on the foot of the loveseat she was laying on.

"What are you doing up?" she asked him. He wouldn't have waited...no, he wouldn't.

"I was waiting for you to get up. You've been asleep for 8 hours in here. I knew when you woke up you would be awake, and I'm not tired, so I was down here reading."

"Well," she said. "That's nice of you."

"No problem."

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Ginny thought she felt Harry's hand on her calf through the blanket, but felt too stupid to check, so she just told herself that it was his hand. Harry spoke up.

"Do you feel better?" 

Ginny thought about that - she hadn't really noticed. "Yeah, a little bit. I'm not as achy but my head hurts a little." she sat up. "I'm not sure if I still have a fever though." 

Ginny was looking the other way when she felt a soft, masculine hand on her forehead.

"You feel okay." Harry said, his voice low, smiling and pulling back his hand, blushing a little. But not as much as Ginny felt she was. They were sitting less than an inch apart now. She gulped, for no reason at all.

"Excited for Christmas?" She managed.

Harry shrugged. "I guess. You?"

Ginny shrugged, too. "I guess." Their knees touched in a tiny spot. She didn't jerk away, and neither did Harry.

He started talking about Quidditch or something, but Ginny couldn't focus her attention on what he was saying. She felt like that one half inch on her knee was burning.

"...don't you?" Harry was finishing whatever he was saying, and Ginny tried to keep her attention away from the little spot on her left knee.

"Oh, yes!" She said, a little too eagerly. He gave her a funny look, but then his attention was distracted, and he looked down at her knee.

"What's this from?" he asked her, picking at a stain on her knee. **Picking** at it. That included touching it. 

__

Oh. My. God.

Ginny stopped herself from thinking. _You're acting so juvenile! So he's touching your knee. Who cares?_ She fought with herself. _But this is Harry Potter_. And he was currently rubbing his thumb on her knee, trying to get out a stain. She tried to explain what it was in attempt to get him to stop before her nerves got out of control. 

"Oh, that's just from, uh, this morning...I was eating tomato soup and I spilled some. It's okay, don't bother." She put her hand on her knee and started to rub it as well.

Maybe now he'll stop.

But his hand was still there. And he didn't move it. Instead, he laced his fingers around hers and moved a little closer. 

Ginny took it all in. His arm was warm against her pajama sleeve, and his fingers were soft and long against her small, girly hand. He started up normal conversation again, and they ended up talking for two hours. Two hours talking about whatever they felt like. 

"You know," Ginny said when the clock struck two. "You're the only guy I can talk to about normal stuff."

"What do you mean, normal stuff?" Harry grinned.

"Well all other guys are always asking me stuff about 'Who likes who' and all that...gossip, that kind of stuff. But you talk about other stuff."

"Well, good. And I would love to talk all night, but you're still sick Missy, and you need sleep." He put his hand on her knee as he pushed himself off of the couch.

"Good night," he called from the foot of the stairs, turning around to look at her.

"'Night," Ginny said, and sat down in the common room, trying to remember exactly how they had been sitting. She gave up after about five minutes, and then went to bed. When she laid her head down, she wrote in her journal. About everything.

__

So I finally found out some of the more interesting aspects of Harry Potter. I'll make a list -- 

~He's more than just a boy with a scar on his forehead. Much more.

~He once had a bedroom in a cupboard under his aunt and uncle's stairs.

~He has nightmares about Voldemort and wakes up with his scar in pain.

~He speaks beautifully

~He goes flying every night out of the Astronomy Tower to get his mind off of things

~He has the greenest, most brilliant eyes I've ever seen on anyone. And they aren't dull green. Or light green or hazel. They're genuine green. 

~Dementors make him nauseous

~He has the nicest hands I have ever seen

~He has abs from doing Quidditch

~...and he showed me because I didn't believe him

~Okay so maybe I did believe him. I wanted to see. Damn. I'm glad I lied. . .

* * *

On Christmas morning, Ginny was feeling 100% better and was in a joyous mood all day. The only people who had stayed at Hogwarts were her brother, Hermione, Harry, and herself. 

She got a book from Hermione - what a surprise - about Bewitching things to do what you wanted them to do, which turned out to be very helpful, as it had tips on how to make the brush in the nail polish paint your nails, how to get the broom to sweep by itself, among other things. Ron got her a bunch of sweets from Honeydukes, and they laughed at the fact that she had gotten him the same thing. Harry didn't get her anything, but she wasn't expecting him to. Hermione bought Ron a Christmas Card that said, "Love, Hermione" at the end, and Harry had fun teasing him all day about that. She also got him a poster of Viktor Krum, partially to annoy him, but she knew he still admired him anyway. Ron faked being mad, but gave her a peck on the cheek anyway. Ginny made eye contact with Harry and grinned - they would have to get on him about that later. Ron bought Hermione a picture frame with the picture of those two in it. Colin Creevey took after last year's Second task. Ron and Hermione were both wet in the picture, but Ron had his arm around her and winked from time to time, and Hermione blushed every now and then. Ginny couldn't help but smile when she saw it - it was very Ron and Hermione-like.

The Great Hall looked fabulous for dinner. Twelve Christmas trees were decked with tons and tons of ornaments, garland, and stars, and everyone sat at one big table since so little people were there. After being fully stuffed, Ginny got up to go to the Tower, but Harry stopped her at the entrance. 

"Come with me," he said, and she followed him up many, many staircases she had never seen before, and Harry wouldn't speak a word each time Ginny asked him where they were going.

He finally stopped in front of the door of the Astronomy Tower. 

"What-?" Ginny started to ask, but stopped when Harry pulled his broomstick out from under his cloak.

"I put a shrinking charm on it," he said, smiling at her, "So you wouldn't see." 

"I don't get it, what are we doing?"

"Going for a ride. Hop on behind me, and hold on."

Ginny was tentative, but slid on behind Harry and gripped him around his thin stomach, and they quickly went up and out the top of the tower.

It was unlike anything Ginny had ever experienced. It was exhilarating. Harry was such an excellent flyer, and it was so fascinating to be on the same broomstick with him, flying around Hogwarts grounds, just the two of them, the cool, winter wind whipping through his and her hair. Harry was keeping her warm, she gripped him tighter as she thought about how nice this was of him. Ginny had a huge smile on her face from the minute they took off.

"Where are we going?" she asked him, speaking loudly over the wind. He was still going very fast.

"You'll see." Harry smiled and sped up.

Ginny couldn't tell where they were yet, it was so dark over the top of Hogwarts. She admired all the tiny turrets and tried to remember which was which - she saw Gryffindor Tower, it's friendly light shining through the windows. She looked back and could almost see the huge astronomy tower, and before she knew it, she figured out where Harry was taking her. Over the lake.

Ginny took back a breath. The lake was positively sparkling, the tiny waves rippling in the moonlight. The trees all around were covered in white that looked more like diamonds than snow. 

"Happy Christmas, Ginny."

Ginny hugged Harry tighter. "Thank you," she whispered. 

He slowed down, circling the lake. "This is where I come every night. I was coming here the first night you followed me."

"How did you--?"

"Oh cut it out, I can turn around and see people in the cloak, you know." Ginny saw Harry grin. "It was all for the better though, because now I got to know you."

"And I got to achieve my goal."

"What was that?"

"To get to know you. The real you. To get to know what's underneath your scar. I don't think a lot of people ever tried that." Ginny laughed. "I feel brave. I've gone where no girl has gone before!" 

Harry laughed. "It's true, you have, and I'm still thankful for it." Harry stopped his firebolt, and it rested obediently in midair, high above the lake. He turned around so that he was facing Ginny now. He put his hands around her waist and brought her closer.

Ginny studied his features. He was looking at her intently, and she could just make out the green in his eyes, through the dark. He had a little smile playing on his lips, and he sort of shrugged them out.

"I didn't get you anything for Christmas." Ginny told him, feeling awkward.

"I didn't want anything," He smiled, and pushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Just gimme a kiss."

And Ginny had no time to answer, because Harry's lips were on hers, lightly, but unmistakably. It was quick, but sweet, and Ginny wanted nothing more. 

When they pulled apart, Ginny's cheeks hot, Harry said, "We should go. What time is it?" 

"10:45," she said. "But why? It's nice out here."

"Well, Ron and Hermione -" he said, shrugging.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go then."

On their way back to the Astronomy Tower, it started to snow. Hard. At first it was beautiful, but then it got ugly - neither of them could see further than three feet in front of them, and Harry was going extremely slow.

"Damn it," he muttered. "Can you see where we are? My glasses have got snow all over them."

"No, I might as well have snow all over my eyes. My fingers are freezing." 

Harry took her hand and put it over his. "Hang on, then, we'll be back soon."

But it was slow, and perilous. They were slipping off of the Firebolt, and Harry could hardly keep his grip, or tell how far he was above the ground. 

"We should just try to walk back, shouldn't we?" Ginny yelled over the wind and snow.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that, hold on tight," he said, and started to make a dive downward, slowly but almost completely vertical.

"Harry! We're going to fall off!" Ginny yelled. She was pressed so far up against him that it was uncomfortable. 

Ginny never expected what happened next. They had come to the ground, but instead of their feet, it was the front of Harry's broom. It hit hard. Harry went flying in front of her, and did about three flips in the two feet snow. Ginny scrambled after him, trying to find him throughout the blizzard. 

"Harry! Harry where are you?" She kept yelling, but he didn't answer. She finally stumbled across him, laying stomach down with his face in the snow.

"HARRY! Harry, answer me! Are you okay?!" She fumbled for her wand with her thickly gloved hands, and finally found it, muttered "_lumos_" and looked at Harry's face in the wand light. His eyes were closed, his lids blue, and his lips were as well. His cheeks were bright red, and he was unconscious. 


	5. The End

CHAPTER FIVE_____

Ginny flashed her wand towards the left and saw that they were in front of the entrance hall. Trying to stay calm and ignore the fact that Harry was unconscious, Ginny rolled Harry and his Firebolt in the snow to the door of the entrance hall, which she pushed open and propped Harry up against a chair, his head lolling to the side.

"Professor Dumbledore! Professor McGonagall! Please! Help me!" Ginny screamed around the entrance Hall, but no one came. "PLEASE?!" she sobbed. 

How could this happen? The best night of her life had been ruined by a stupid snow storm that happened to take place while they were up on a broomstick on Christmas night. What was she supposed to say to Professor Dumbledore if he came down?

She walked over to Harry and sat down kneeled in front of him, shaking his shoulders. "Please, Harry, wake up! Harry? Harry?" she was saying quietly to him, embracing him, and started to brush snow out of his hair. Hugging him tighter, trying to keep him warm, she planted a kiss on his freezing cheek, making her lips cold.

"Please, don't let this happen, please let him wake up..." she said to no one in particular. She lifted up Harry's face and gasped when she saw he had a thin gash on the side of his head, the blood seeping out and into his hair - he must have fallen into a rock. 

"Oh, my god..." she said, and began picking his hair out of the way to get a better look. It was thin and small, but deep nonetheless. Taking off her glove, she pushed it against his head and tried to stop the blood. When she took the glove off after a few seconds, she saw that it wasn't bleeding nearly as much as it had been, but still held it there for a moment longer.

Harry opened blindly opened his eyes after five minutes or so. 

"Harry!" she said quietly, trying not to scare him. She shook his shoulder a little. 

He looked at her with his eyes open in slits, and said "Whassamatter? What happened?"

"You fell off the broom and hit your head on a rock or something like that...do you remember the snow storm?"

"Yeah, a little. Are you okay?" he said concernedly. Ginny blushed - he really **was** something, he had fallen off of his broom, fell face down into the snow, hit his head on a rock, and he just asked her if she was okay.

"I'm perfect. I was worried about you...I thought you would never wake up. I stopped your head from bleeding a bit," she said, pulling the glove off and showing him the blood, which he cringed at.

"Thanks. Is it big?" he said, groping for it with his fingers through out his messy hair.

"No, it's only about an inch long and it's not really that deep. I think it's stopped bleeding. Eww, don't touch it. Your fingers are probably dirty." 

Harry smiled at her. "Did you have fun tonight?"

"Yeah, until all this happened. Thank you again for taking me out." she said, holding his freezing hand. "We should go back up to the common room. You're freezing."

They stood up, but Harry almost toppled over. "I'm just a little dizzy, still." he said.

"Here, put your arm like this, and lean on me." said Ginny, feeling sheepish as she put his arm around her waist and put her arm around his. 

They walked slow back up to the common room, and sat on the same couch next to the fire, putting a blanket over the both of them, and huddled next to each other, holding hands.

"Are you okay now? I was so scared, I didn't know what to do...no one was coming when I called, and I felt so alone, and I thought you would never wake up. You were out for about ten minutes, you know. And your face was all covered in snow, and it was horrible." Ginny told Harry.

"Ginny, I've been through worse than this. You just weren't there to see it." He smiled at her. "Except for one time." He added, looking down and running his fingers absent mindedly through his hair.

"I'm sorry." Ginny said, sincerely.

Harry looked up at her in astonishment. "You're sorry? What do you mean?"

"I just never wanted to cause you trouble with the whole Chamber of Secrets thing..."

"Ginny," Harry said slowly. "If you had never caused me trouble I never would have had the friendship we have now. Dumbledore even told me that there's a special bond between people who go through things like that together. I like to believe him. I hope you would too."

Harry looked at Ginny, studying her face before lowering his lips on hers and pulling her into a warm, passionate kiss that made Ginny feel like she were falling into Harry, her mind spinning, thinking about everything that had happened in this one night between them. Harry ran his smooth, warm hand up and down her arm, making her hair stand on end. Ginny leaned into him, pushing him back onto the couch, and after several minutes he finally pulled his lips from hers and fumbled with his foggy glasses. 

"Ginny," he said, kissing her once more next to her mouth, "We should go upstairs...soon.." He tried to say between Ginny's soft kisses on his jaw. 

"Yes, we should." Ginny said, speaking very closely to his mouth. Harry shivered and stood up, pulling Ginny up with him. He slid his hands around her waist, bringing her close to him.

"Goodnight," he said, placing a firm kiss on her mouth, and reluctantly made his way up the staircase to the boys' dormitory.

Ginny stood, thinking for a moment, and then sprinted up the stairs to meet Harry before he got to his room.

"Harry, wait-" she said. "I just wanted to say..." she started. What **did** she want to say? Thanks for snogging me for 30 minutes? Thanks for giving me the best Christmas I've ever had? She wasn't sure where to start, so she said the first thing that came to her mind. "Thank you for letting me get to know you." She kissed him. "The real you. The secretive Harry."

"Yes, you know the secretive Harry. But you can't tell anyone!" He laughed. "I don't like to let people know what's behind the scar." He grinned, gazing into her eyes. "Well, besides you. And **only** you." He kissed her one last time, blushed, and turned into his dormitory, while Ginny stood outside his door for quite some time, thinking about how very great it was that she knew something about Harry that others didn't. And about how comfortable they were with each other. Comfortable enough to give each other a kiss goodnight.

As Ginny lay in bed that night, she thought about nothing but Harry. _I've found out the real Harry._ she thought with a smile. _And he's everything I'd expected him to be._

****

(A/N -- yes? no? Sort of stupid. I don't care...it needed an ending desperately =) Thanks to those of you who review! It seriously keeps me writing. Keep them coming!! 3)


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